It has been known in the pertinent art to dispose electronic modules, particularly optoelectronic transceivers, in a pluggable manner on a printed-circuit board. Known in particular are pluggable transceivers of a small construction, known as Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers. Standards for SFP transceivers are set forth in the “Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP) Transceiver Multisource Agreement (MSA),” dated Sep. 14, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Such transceivers are received in an SFP receptacle on the printed-circuit board. Infrared light is coupled into and out of the transceiver via a plug receptacle that is arranged on the transceiver or coupled to it and into which an optical connector can be plugged. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,546,281, 5,717,533, 5,734,558, 5,864,468, 5,879,173 and 6,517,382 B2, which disclose exemplary optoelectronic transceivers, are hereby fully incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 1A shows an exemplary transceiver module 10, receptacle 12, and printed circuit board (PCB) 14 of a type generally known in the art, as discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,382 B2. The receptacle 12 is mounted to the PCB 14 and is preferably constructed of a conductive metal. Contacts 20 ground the receptacle 12 to a stacked array or panel cutout (not shown). The module 10 of FIG. 1A is shown partially inserted into the receptacle 12 so that the components are more clearly illustrated. As shown, the receptacle 12 has a front, back, top, bottom and sides defining a cavity for receiving the module. On the bottom side, the receptacle 12 includes an inclined leading edge 30 and a latch tab 26 defining an opening 22. During insertion of the module 10 into the receptacle 12, the leading edge 30 rides over an outwardly extending latching member 32 on a first side 34 of the module 10, causing the latch tab 26 to be resiliently deflected until the latching member 32 is positioned to enter the opening 22 of the latch tab 26, at which time the latch tab 26 resiles, or snaps back, and latches the module 10 to the receptacle 12. The latching member 32 and the opening 22 are sized and shaped to mate closely, thus preventing movement of the module 10 within the receptacle 12. The module 10 remains latched to the receptacle 12 until the latch tab 26 is displaced to release the latching member 32, at which time the module 10 is de-latched from the receptacle 12 and can be easily withdrawn therefrom.
An exemplary de-latch mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,382 B2 and shown in FIG. 1A. This exemplary de-latch mechanism is illustrative of those known in the art in that it includes an actuator 50 that is slidably mounted in a slot 42 on a bottom side of the module 10, as shown in FIG. 1A. The actuator includes a ramped portion 54 for displacing the latch tab 26 when the actuator 50 is in an operative position, by causing it to be deflected until the latching member 32 is released from the latch tab 26.
To increase the number of modules per area, multiple SFP modules/receptacles are generally arranged in stacked rows and columns. In such stacked configurations, e.g. a belly-to belly configuration as shown in FIG. 1B, the de-latch mechanism is not readily accessible in that the actuator 50 is positioned between modules and/or behind the face (front) 11 of the module 10 when the actuator 50 is in both the operative and inoperative positions (see FIGS. 1A and 1B). Accordingly, a special tool or probe (not shown) must be inserted into the slot 42 on the module's face 11 and/or between adjacent modules to access and depress the actuator 50. The requirement of a tool for removing the module is not only inconvenient, but also prevents an operator from removing a module if he or she does not have a suitable tool at the appropriate time. This requirement of a tool results in increased installation cost and/or repair time.
Furthermore, it is sometimes desirable to customize a module by color coding or private label trademark branding, or to repair or replace the de-latch mechanism.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pluggable module having a de-latch mechanism that is easily accessible to an operator and does not require any tools to operate, and is readily mountable/demountable for assembly/repair/replacement purposes.